Annie and Jack
by Elarina Caticson
Summary: [Team Finity, Book 2] After Team Finity was created by Annie Zinc, the question remaining is what the team does. With the only members struggling over schoolwork and money, a new force must arise-but not in the way Annie and her friends expect.
1. Prologue

**Types(people)**

Normal: Mixture of other types

Lightning: People of Lightningland

Lazer: People of Lazassa

Fire: People of Firenasa

Water: People of Waterania, excellent swimmers

Grass: People of Plantassa, skilled farmers

Ice(Icotopes): People of Icotopia

Shadow: People of Shadowton, generally live underground

Fur: People of Furlandia

Stone: People of Stonanda

Steel: People of Stelalia

Cloud: People of Cloudsa, with airy cytoplasm that makes them naturally lighter than other types

Ice tea: People of Icetania, or ice-grass-water types

**Types(Pokemon)**

Normal: Eevee, Castform, Ditto, and Type: Null

Lightning: Store and release electricity

Lazer: Control light

Fire: Control high temperatures

Water: Store and release water

Grass: Grow plants at high speeds

Ice: Control water at low temperatures

Shadow: Capture light and release it in the form of darkness

Fur: Pokemon that would otherwise be normal types, with "fairy" attacks

Stone: Can manipulate nearby materials and change them to rock

Steel: Found in developed areas and use tools to battle

Cloud: Lightweight Pokemon, or Pokemon that can fly

Ice tea: Control scents, tastes, and poison

Psychic: Espeon and evolutions of Ralts

**Regions, capitals, and leaders**

Normalia: Normalia City(no leader)

Lightningland: Zarrgonn(President Zygarde Zircon)

Lazassa: Zaptown(President Lysandre Actinium)

Firenasa: Coal City(President Delphox Iron)

Waterania: Vaporville(President Greninja Iron)

Plantassa: Leafsburg(President Nick Radon)

Icotopia: Freezerburg(Queen Diantha Zirconium)

Shadowton: Ghosttown(Prime Minister Liliamaura Klikouski)

Furlandia: Brushingham(Prime Minister Roselia Bohrium)

Stonanda: Rocksville(President Weezing Molybdenum

Stelalia: Ironton(King Cobalion Regalia Nobelium)

Cloudsa: Wisp City(President Fennekin Potassium

Icetania: Minty(President Mira Calcium)

**Nonregions**

Border: an electric border at the edge of the Mica Realm

Great Ocean: A great ocean at the northeast corner of the Mica Realm

Infinity Mountains: Mountains shaped like an infinity symbol. At one valley is Lookout City, and at the other is Lookout Lake.

Interdimensional Abyss: A deep chasm that teleports people to the third dimension if they fall on the north side, and to the Diamond Realm on the south side.

Lazer River: A long river travelling south down the length of Lazassa, from the Great Ocean to Zaptown

No-Return Plateau: An arid plateau inhabited by thousands of hungry dragon Pokemon

Shadow Abyss: An underground chasm that falls into darkness, rumoured to never end

Windy Plateau: A plateau rising thousands of meters above sea level, subject to stormy weather

The moonlight filters softly through a window in the dark tower bedroom. In a deep blue bed is a teenage girl, maybe eighteen or nineteen. An older woman walks in. "Zorua."

The girl does not respond, for she is soundly asleep. But it is not a peaceful sleep, for she is curled up into a tight corner of her blue bed. The woman sighs.

"Zorua, if you don't wake up now your breakfast will be cold." Hearing the familiarity of these words, Zorua jolts awake. "Grandma? Are you there?"

But these are empty words, for her bedroom itself is empty. She sighs and curls up underneath her blue comforter.

"Wait."

Zorua almost leaps out of her bed. "Who's there?"

This time, she can see the blue hair in the darkness. "Mac, if this is a joke, you will be in for it tomorrow."

"Mac isn't here," her grandmother reassures her. "He's at his home in Normalia City."

"Normalia…" Zorua falls back asleep.

"You cursed her, Amaura," says a man with silver hair. "You cursed her, thirteen years ago."

"Silvally!" his wife shouts. "I had the same powers. She will be fine."

"But you didn't know until you were twenty!" Silvally argues. "She's known her whole life."

"No, she hasn't," replies Amaura. "We've never told her."

"She knows she's special."

"So?"

Silvally sighs. A ginger-haired woman walks into the room. "If it's okay with you two, we're going to call a meeting."

"Okay, Technetium," Amaura replies. "Just go over in that corner."

"Actually, we were going to include you two," Technetium tells her.

"Really?"

Technetium glares at Amaura before shaking her head. "We don't have to."

"Radium!" Amaura calls. An older woman with long blue hair enters the room.

"I am a Zirconium," she says. "Adedle Zirconium."

Amaura smiles. "There is nothing deadly about Zirconium. Radium, though…"

"I understand," says Adedle drily. She is one of the few of the Crystal Realm who has chosen to appear in her older years. "But I am Radium no more. Please call me Zirconium, even if I am not by blood, but by marriage. Or Adedle if you desire."

"How's your granddaughter?" Silvally asks. "She is family to all of us."

"Not me," Technetium points out.

"She is well," Adedle sighs. "But I'm afraid we'll lose her."

"Lose her?" Silvally is startled. "What do you mean?"

"Lose her to her father."

"No, that won't happen," Amaura mutters. "She's got her love from me, her courage from Silvally, her persistence from you… She's a Zirconium, after all."

"More like a Zircon."

"Her last name doesn't matter," Amaura argues. "Just look at the Iron family. They are so close, even though not all of them are Irons. I mean, last name isn't all that matters."

Silvally stares at his wife. "You're always telling me what it means to be a Zirconium."

"Because you are a Zirconium," she replies. "And you always will be. And you need to know how."

Silvally sighs and marches away.

"Don't you think you're being too lenient?" Adedle asks. "I watch over her all the time, at least since I died a year ago."

That doesn't matter. Adedle might be watching, but Zorua can't see her. Is it really useful to watch someone when you can't change their life?

Amaura sighs and leaves the room. But Adedle stays. She is remembering something she read almost ten years ago.

Tσ rmy wσmdoiπ/ul wi/oi DiamAha,

0'rm bσ bσππy. EuoπyAhimg wab rmy /aulA. 0'uoi Aπiod Aσ /σπgoA AhaA mighA. Omoi Ahimg 0'll mouoπ /σπgoA, Ahσugh, ib hσw Ahib rmobb bAaπAod ab a haπrmlobb baAAloi boAwoom Awσ Aπaimoπb. Yσu amd moi. 

0'rm bοππy abσuA X. 0'rm bοππy abσuA Y. BuA 3σπua ib rmimoi. Yσu'll boi bσππy whom yσu hoaπ Ahoi mowb, abσuA yσuπ yσumgobA childπom. Yσuπ childπom, moA rmimoi. WσπAhlobb. 

Fσπ yσu Aσ πoad whom yσu wakoi up. 

Lσuoi, 3ygaπdoi 

Professor Zircon's writing. Adedle's writing. Are they really so different?

No, says part of Adedle's mind. She sighs. Because as much as she hates her son-in-law Zygarde, part of her loves him too, as if he were her actual son and not by marriage. And she knows that Diantha is the same way.

And even though Zygarde is very wicked, she thinks, trying to destroy a region and all that, surely it would be better than her marrying Dave Arbok, who accidentally murdered Russet Technetium, or Lysandre Actinium, the leader of Team Flare.

Dave Arbok tried. But eventually he gave up and married a water type, then had a daughter named Jessie, who is twenty-two now. All of them are extremely dedicated to Team Rocket.

But the handwriting. It catches her off guard. She is the one who taught Zygarde to write like that. It is deemed too beautiful and ancient for many people to write on a daily basis. Most can't even read it. But Zygarde picked up the talent naturally, like he was part of the Radium family.

He wasn't. Zygarde was a Chlorine.

The Chlorines were a powerful family. Most of their fame has fizzled out now, but they remain distinguished in an ancient way. Maybe it is because of their long history of Pokémon training, or their famous naming system, typically after Pokémon starting with the letter Z. Maybe it is because old memories are never truly forgotten. You don't have to be Annie Zinc to unearth these hidden treasures.

Maybe there is an ancient magic of the Mica Realm. Not the kind where you wave your wand, but the kind that makes you remember. The kind that whispers to you, from you, or even straight through you.

The kind that makes you feel.

The kind that drove Zygarde away from the Chlorines.

Only Adedle knows why he is now a Zircon.


	2. Chapter 1

_Team Finity, book 2_

_Without lightning, ice, and fire, the most powerful being is _**darkness**_._

After creating Team Finity, Annie Zinc feels lost. The team is supposed to be an official organization, but with barely four members, she admits that it is really more of a Team Vicious hate club.

But when a mysterious new student attends her school, Annie knows things are about to change. From future-telling dreams to weird behaviour from Professor Zircon, Team Finity will take a turn for the better-or the worse.

* * *

I set the newspaper article on the kitchen table for my mom to read. It was about me. Of course it was.

I really wasn't surprised. I was the youngest person ever to create a team, but it had been easy, like Team Finity wasn't real. It certainly didn't feel real.

My Touchpad 360 pinged with a text message from Luke.

Luke: Can you help me with the washing machine?

Me: surwe

Me: I really need to grt used to tuping on this thing

I walked into the laundry room to find him staring at all of the different detergents. "Surely you washed your own clothes at Zirconium Palace?"

"Of course I did," he replied. "But the controls weren't this vague. Can you explain them to me?"

I suppressed a sigh. "This switch unlocks the tray where you put the detergent. You don't need very much. This knob controls how hot the water is."

"How hot should I turn it?"

"Very hot, unless you're washing jeans," I replied. "But due to the horrible infrastructure of this neighborhood, you can't take a shower and expect the temperature to be consistent while washing clothes."

Luke nodded. "Okay, I'll remember that. But what does this little knob do?"

"It adjusts the spin speed," I explained. "You want to keep it in the middle. Now flip the lock switch and press the start button."

"What happens if I don't lock it?"

"Nothing," I told him. "But due to an Eevee and two children living in this apartment, it's just a precaution. Venonat ate a detergent pod once, and he didn't feel too good."

Luke started to think about this for a minute, and I started to walk out of the room. "Wait!" he called. "Where's your dryer?"

"Uh, dryer?"

"Yes," he replied. "You know, for drying clothes."

"Oh, we don't have one," I replied. "You hang your clothes on that rack over there." I pointed to where my dad's flannel shirts were hanging.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Your dad dresses like an old-fashioned farmer."

"I think that's the idea," I replied. "Now, your clothes won't be done until after we leave for your game, you know." Luke had a hockey game almost every Friday night, and today it was against the Scratchemeowths, Normalia's hockey team.

"Okay," he said. "Let's leave in fifteen minutes."

"No, let's leave now," I replied. "We can't exactly teleport there, it's in Normalia City today."

"Actually, I want to do something else first," he explained. "Lily! John! We're leaving!" he called to my parents.

"Have fun!" was my mom's reply. "Skate and date!"

I felt my face turning rather warm despite the chill, thankful for the lack of adequate lighting. "Yeah, sure."

The slam of my front door echoed in the empty neighbourhood. It was the ninth of Zapach.

The Mica Realm didn't have "seasons," like the third dimension we had barely studied in Regions. Normalia was really the only region that had varying temperatures, but even here it was a very slight difference. Temperatures were almost never above 25 degrees.

We stepped into separate teleporting rings. Using the same one wasn't strictly illegal, but it was only allowed in Lightningland and Icotopia, neither of which we lived in. Not anymore.

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" I asked.

Luke sighed. "I want to see my house."

_His house. _Zirconium Palace. We had been friends for a mere two months when I had had that fateful dream with Luke's dad and two best friends. It had been an unlucky coincidence that he had broken up with his self-centered girlfriend Bayleef a few days before, but his hair was already looking significantly neater.

"Looks more like Zirconium Rubble now," I said.

The interior had completely burned away, but the stone bricks still remained. _3iπcσniwm _was etched in a few of them.

"3iπcσniwm," I muttered.

"Sitconyworm," Luke muttered after me, not quite replicating my pronunciation of the word. "I wonder what it means."

"Don't you know?" I asked, surprised. "You've lived here your whole life."

"Nope," he replied. "Let's leave. We don't want to be late."

"Right," I agreed.

We walked back to the teleporting rings, this time standing in only one. It wasn't illegal here.

Normalia City wasn't the only town in Normalia, but it was the capital. All the other Normalian cities were too small to show up on dimensional maps, just like with many other regions. The only nonregion city was Lookout City, situated beside Lookout Lake in the Infinity Mountains.

The streets were crowded tonight, filled with Scratchemeowths fans wearing brown and white. A few Crowbolts fans were wearing yellow and black.

We walked into the rink. Most of Luke's team was already there, throwing pucks around(a Mica Realm tradition) and eating peanut butter cookies from All-Buy. He waved goodbye and joined them.

I chose a seat closest to the floor so Luke and I would be able to see each other. But then Bayleef stomped up in what appeared to be high-heeled mountain boots and sat down beside me. "Move out of the way, and don't mess up my Roggenrolas, they're expensive."

I did move, but by the time I got up, pretty much every good seat was taken. I found a spot in the corner, in the very back. When the players walked out into the floor, I couldn't tell which one Luke was.

I shoved my way to the front. Now I could at least see _Zirconium _on the back of his jersey. Bayleef was staring at him obsessively.

I had never been to Luke's hockey games before, but it was similar to the Normalia vs. Lazassa games my dad used to take me to. Hockey games were the biggest sporting events in the Mica Realm; though basketball and soccer existed, they were nowhere near as popular.

"And the Crowbolts have the puck!" the announcer screamed. "Zirconium is whacking it with the force of a Rampardos! Oh! Scratchemeowth Leona is blocking the puck from reaching the goal! He's the best goalie I've ever seen!"

The announcer was just barely visible from where I was sitting. He had a brown goatee and beard, was wearing a red hard hat, and when he spoke, I noticed that he had a huge gap between his front teeth. He had a Diamond Realm accent. "Now Zirconium has the puck again! He's sending it toward his own goal! Zirconium, what in the Mica Realm are you doing?"

Luke whacked the puck with what appeared to be all his strength. It sailed close to where Bayleef was sitting. She looked up from her Touchpad just as the puck bounced off her shoes. "My Roggenrolas!" she cried.

After the puck bounced, it sailed toward Leona again. This time, he was unable to block it as it sailed into the goal. "That's a goal for the Crowbolts!" the announcer shouted in his familiar voice, though I wasn't sure I had even heard it before. "Good grief, that Zirconium is a good player-"

The door burst open with a loud bang. The announcer went silent.

At first glance no one appeared. Then a boy stepped through the doorway. "Greetings, human beans."

I caught a glimpse of Luke muttering to the Crowbolts goalie; the other players were gaping with shock. No one dared interrupt a hockey game in the Mica Realm.

The boy dabbed, a cheesy move ditched by most people a few years ago. Then he took off his shoes and slid into Normalia's goal in his socked feet. Leona stifled a cry of outrage before the boy slid into Lightningland's goal.

Suddenly his Touchpad 360 rang, on speaker. "Hello? Yes, Mom. I'll be home in five minutes." A woman's voice blared out, but I was too far away to hear any words. "Okay, Mom." Then, after he spent two seconds putting his shoes back on, he literally crashed to the floor and slithered out of the room.

"Well, that's quite a nice way to spend an evening." Luke rubbed his hands together, his breath fogging.

I raised my eyebrows. "What?"

He rolled his eyes. "Not really."

"I could tell," I replied.

He muttered, "Yeah, sure."

"Let's hurry," I said. "It's cold out here."

"I know that," Luke replied. "Have you not seen my hands?" They were quite red from the chill, though I was pretty sure it wasn't _that_ cold.

"Why are you sweating?" I asked.

He shrugged. "How dare that boy mess up my hockey game? In front of Bayleef?"

"He looked like a shadow type," I suggested. "Maybe he's not from here."

"But _surely_ he's been to a hockey game before!" Luke was furious. "Probably from Ghostown or something."

"Ghostown is a ghost town," I reminded him.

"Exactly," he replied.

I sighed. "Maybe he just has a whole bunch of siblings and wants attention."

"Attention," Luke repeated. "Yeah, I would say so."

"Oπ rmaybo ho wamAb Aσ jσim Toarm FimiAy," I suggested.

"What?"

I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I couldn't repeat it if I tried."

He gave me a funny look as I opened my front door.


	3. Chapter 2

Professor Aluminum was calling role, just like any other day. Across the hallway, Ash Chromium had her nose buried in a book, so did Erin. But unlike Ash, Erin Copper was taking a nap between the pages. Kate Hydrogen was checking her texts on her Touchpad 360, not caring when Professor Aluminum announced that the next quiz would be Thursday.

He paused, and sat down at his desk with a book of his own. One of the most relaxed teachers in the school, he didn't seem to care whether his class passed or failed.

"Oh, I'm fine," Erin had insisted after her two-week nap marathon. "I got an 85 on that test Aluminum passed back yesterday. I was asleep the whole unit." She usually woke up just long enough to trudge to Professor Carbon's class after the bell, before falling asleep there. Professor Carbon was the Skills teacher.

Suddenly a paper airplane sailed through the open door. It came to rest at Richard Tin's feet. He picked it up and unfolded it.

"Both Professor Alloy and Professor Iron have substitutes today!" he exclaimed. "Boys, you know what that means!"

All the boys rushed into the hall, with the girls behind them. Coach Argon wasn't at the school yet, but someone had gotten hold of the hockey sticks and a few pucks.

"Hall hockey," I realized. We split into two teams, Alexis Cradone the captain of Team Alexis, and Richard the captain of Team Detergent Pod.

Most of us were sweating by the time the bell rang at 9:00(except for Kate Hydrogen, of course). Josh and Luke had set up goals at each end of the hallway. One was a volleyball net and the other was the broken toilet that had been sitting in the corner of the boys' room for a month. Team Alexis protested because they had to hit the puck into a smaller space than Team Detergent Pod did.

Unsurprisingly, Team Alexis had all the popular students. A few lucky girls had decided to join them. Kate was one of them. Erin, Ash, and I were not.

We didn't care, however. Though we didn't keep score, it was clear that our team was better. We had Richard Tin, Harry Potassium, and Luke Zirconium, the best players in the school.

Though Kate and Bayleef were constantly dodging the puck, Alexis Cradone played viciously. She changed into jeans halfway through our game, and her pale face turned quite pink from the heat.

"This is awesome," Josh Lasquash gasped at around 10:30. "Mac, you coward! _Whack the freaking puck!"_ Mac and Mason were crouching behind the lockers. Josh screamed at them some more.

"I wonder why Aurum hasn't put a stop to this," said Erin. "It's strange that she isn't here."

Richard snorted. "Who cares? She probably got a gold cold or something." Harry and Mike snickered. Erin soon joined in with a forced "Ha, ha."

"Or maybe she's escorting a new student to his first class," said a voice behind us.

We all whipped around. Professor Aurum was there, along with a short boy I couldn't place the name of. But I definitely recognized him.

"He was at my hockey game," Luke breathed.

He was correct. Now that I was closer to him, I could tell that he had messy black hair, dyed green in the front, and green-framed glasses. He was barely taller than Venonat.

"Ayy, are you JBL?" I blurted out. I didn't even know why.

"Yes," he replied. "Jack Lagouski."

"His second class is Regions." Professor Aurum shot a glare at all of us. "And I believe Professor Alloy is about to return. She only took half a day off today. She will be very disappointed in you all."

Only Ash hung her head.

Jack Lagouski didn't seem to care. His ears were glowing with a bright green colour, and from it I heard, "Raise the anchor down for a fishin'."

"Luke," I whispered. "Jack listens to DC."

He looked at me. "Do you think I care?"

"About what music he listens to through his wireless earbuds in class? I guess not."

Luke frowned. "Why are they so green? I've never seen anything like it."

I shrugged. "I thought you didn't care."

"I don't," he replied.

"So you know this guy?" Erin asked.

I nodded. "He was at the Lightningland vs. Normalia game a few days ago. Luke got really upset."

"Why?" Erin asked.

"Because he ran in and slid on the floor," I replied.

Erin looked up from her Fennekin drawing. "On his feet or his stomach?"

"Both," I said.

Erin cringed. "Ouch."

"You don't feel _bad_ for him, do you?" I asked.

She glared at me. "Eeww, if you want to date him, talk to Luke."

I laughed. "That's so irrelevant."

Erin shrugged. "I just wish I could stick with a crush like you do."

"I don't have a crush on him."

She looked at me again. "Suuuurre you don't."

The bell rang, and I left for Moves with a familiar-looking man as the substitute.

And although the classroom was very hot, he didn't remove his hard hat for the entire period.


	4. Chapter 3

"What are you making?" Venonat asked.

"Nothing," I replied.

"Wrong!" He peered over my shoulder. "Is that a _dating chart?"_

"No!" I replied.

His breath was hot on my ear. "Yes it is."

"Go away," I told him.

Venonat skipped away. "Have fun dating Luke Zirconium!"

"Do you even know who he is?" I asked.

"Yep!" Venonat replied. "He's that ragamuffin you brought home a few days ago.

"He's not a ragamuffin!" was my heated response. "He's the heir to the Icotopia throne!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"What do you mean?" I asked angrily. "He's the oldest Zirconium child!"

"Yeah," Venonat pointed out, "but he's not much of a leader."

"I'm not either," I told him. "But now I'm the leader of Team Finity. People change, you know."

"Yeah, I guess," he replied.

* * *

"I _hate _him!" Erin exclaimed. "I have Moves with him, and now I sit beside him! He was nothing but distracting the whole class period! Then we got our report cards, and his lowest grade was a 96. A _ninety-six! _That's higher than Ash's!"

"Don't you have to leave for art club?" I sighed. Jack was definitely annoying-I had Regions with him-but it was Erin's commentary I disliked more.

"Yeah," Erin agreed. "See ya, Annie! See ya tomorrow!"

"It's Friday!" I yelled. "No school tomorrow!"

Jack Lagouski had been at the Pokemon Training Academy for a week now. He was officially the most unpopular student, since even Josh had friends, something even Jack didn't have.

Jack was a mystery to everyone, despite his loud appearance and personality. Every day, he had worn an illusion-themed shirt, but now even Professor Aurum was making him switch to his uniform. He sulked, throwing a _Blood & Boneshed _sweatshirt over a lime-green polo. But he refused to change, saying he wasn't breaking the dress code, pointing out that both neon colours and hoodies were allowed.

_Leave it to Professor Aurum to maintain order,_ I thought. _Even Team Finity can't do that right now. _And why not? Instead of suing Professor Zircon or whatever, we were underage, stuck in school following stupid rules.

"I'm twelve," Jack was saying. "My birthday was the 28th of Joltuary."

"So you waited to apply until you were old enough?" Bayleef snorted. "No wonder you're so short. You're younger than the rest of us."

Jack stood up as tall as he could, until his glasses were level with Bayleef's chin. Then he raised his head and glared at her. "I'll be six-four when I'm fully grown."

"You?" Bayleef laughed. "A shadow type like _you?_"

"Shadow-grass," Jack corrected. "I take after my mom."

"Yeah, right." Bayleef stomped away in her Roggenrolas.

"Wow," Jack said, staring after her. "She really is a sour pinap."

"That's Bayleef for you," I sighed. "Don't take it personally. She's that way with everyone."

"Not Josh," Jack pointed out.

"Josh?" I spluttered. "Josh Lasquash?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"What are you implying?" I asked.

Jack skipped away without answering my question.

"Oh, no," said a voice behind me. I turned around. "Josh is my best friend."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't feel sorry for me!" Luke sighed. "Feel sorry for Josh."

"I don't think that's possible. Besides, I ship it."

Luke stared at me incredulously. "You _ship _it? Josh and Bayleef?"

I shrugged. _They're both annoying._ "Maybe Josh will gain popularity now."

"That's not how it works."

I shrugged again. "I've never been popular. I wouldn't know."

He looked at me. "Of course not."

I sighed. "If evil is all you have ever known, what is the point in being nice?"

"What?"

"I feel like I've heard that somewhere, but I don't know where," I explained.

Luke seemed startled. "That's strange, because I feel that way too. Like… I've seen it recently. Like maybe less than a month ago."

"Maybe both of us saw it at the same time," I suggested. "I can ask Erin."

"Do you think she will understand?"

"Well, she's my best friend," I pointed out. "So I hope so."

While Luke hurried home, I stayed at school to wait for Erin to finish at her art club. Art club was really the only club people signed up for at the Pokemon Training Academy, and they definitely signed up. From Alexis Cradone to Harry Potassium, any student with artistic ability paid five mica chips to stay after school every Friday. Everyone but me.

Money was a problem, of course, but it wasn't the only one. I hated drawing around other people. When I was six, I made my own birthday cards for family members(and I still did, since I couldn't afford not to), and drew a happy Pokemon to go with them. But soon, my aunt Heather invited my family to her house in Plantassa for the New Year, and she pulled me aside when we got there.

"I have a surprise for you," she had said. She had led me down the hallway to her office, and beamed at me as she opened the door.

My jaw had dropped. Her office was covered with birthday cards, as well as New Year cards, Icetania Day cards, and even Mica Feast Day cards. All made by me.

"I hate you!" I had screamed, running outside. I didn't really remember anything after that, except that my mom found me flinging stones into my aunt's fishpond later.

"Come on," my mom had said. "We're about to take pictures."

So on our fireplace was a picture of my mom standing beside her blonde sister, the two looking similar despite their differences. My red-haired dad was holding three-year Venonat, smiling through his glasses. Beside him, I was glowering, looking like a stick of cotton candy with my once-fluffy pink hair.

I never drew anything outside of my notebooks again.

* * *

"Hey, Erin," I called. "Can I ask you something?"

"Er-yes?" she replied. "Ask away, after all I'm your best friend."

"If evil is all you have ever known, what is the point in being nice?"

"Er-to help your friends?" She seemed confused. "Why would you say that?"

"Luke and I heard it somewhere," I explained, "but we don't know where."

Erin shrugged. "I've never heard it before."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "We've been doing a lot of stuff for the past few weeks. My whole life has changed since I started school here."

"I suppose I just forgot," said Erin. "I heard it but forgot."

"Yeah," I replied. "See you Monday!"

"Sure thing!" she called back. "See you Monday!"


	5. Chapter 4

"Hurry up, Annie!" Luke called. "We're going to be late for school!"

"Professor Aluminum doesn't care," I replied, throwing on a second shirt. The uniform for girls at the Pokémon Training Academy consisted of two shirts of different colours, one shorter like a crop top with short sleeves. This shirt matched the colour of our school-required skirt. Matching the colour of the other shirt was a pair of very long leggings or tights, though one time Ava Arsenic came to school in a pantsuit the colour of her school uniform. I laced my off-brand fabric shoes and ran out the door.

"There you are," Luke said. "Let's go."

We hurried past the rotting houses, shuddering when we saw a rat in the dawn light. The suns had risen by the time we got to school.

We didn't speak as we threw our bags into our lockers. It was just another boring school day, boredom nothing could cure.

We ran into Professor Aluminum's Moves classroom seconds before the bell rang. Jack was in this class, sitting in Rex Cobalt's old seat after the popular boy had mysteriously dropped out of school. Jack was also using his locker, much to Erin's displeasure. She began coming to school very early and leaving very late to avoid him.

"Just in time," Professor Aluminum growled. He slammed the door behind Luke. "I won't be so forgiving next time. We're about to sing the dimensional anthem."

_In the beginning_

_There was only the zero dimension_

_Until someone had the nerve to create a dimension._

_It made the world go round_

_All the birds flew safe and sound_

_But the Pokemon knew there was only one way to save the world._

_To kill all human beings, to end the world._

Then he took off his glasses and snoozed behind his desk.

We were supposed to be filling out a worksheet, but only Kate and Erin actually did that. I was about to doze off myself when I heard my Touchpad 360 ping.

_Lajackski21 has invited you to play Blood & Boneshed on this fine day. _

What?

I didn't even have the app, so I declined the offer. But apparently Luke was interested, and soon _lzzrhockey _joined Jack. Sullenly I filled out the worksheet.

I didn't see Luke until Moves. Apparently he and Jack had skipped Regions together to play video games. Though Jack was in Skills right now, Luke was opening _Blood & Boneshed _to play with him. However, Professor Iron soon confiscated the device.

"What are you doing?" he thundered. "Obviously not taking notes! He squinted at the screen through his tinted glasses. "Blood and Boneshed! My son plays that game!"

A message appeared on the screen. _I play with ispikyhargi. _

_I spiky hair guy?_ I wondered.

Professor Iron threw Luke's Touchpad 360 into the garbage bin. "I have to tell my son to stop targeting children."

No one said anything.

* * *

After school, Luke dashed off in the direction of Silverfall, the richest neighborhood in Normalia City. When I asked where he was going, he replied, "I'm going to hang out with Jack."

"This is ridiculous," I told Erin the next day. "The weird guy becomes best friends with my boyfriend."

"Well, it makes sense," she pointed out. "Jack's a new student. The natural instinct of an unpopular person is to latch onto any potential friends they may make. Luke is quite justified in his actions."

I glared at her. "Don't side with Jack! I thought you hated him!"

She shrugged. "I do, but I've learned not to judge people based off of who their friends are."

We stood, facing the Mica Realm map in the back of the classroom.

_In the ending_

_There was only the zero dimension_

_Until someone had the nerve to create a dimension._

_It made the world go round_

_All the birds flew safe and sound_

_But the Pokemon knew there was only one way to save the world._

_To kill all human beings, to end the world._

"Why is it different each time?" Jack asked.

"Because the interdimensional multiverse has no end," Luke replied. "There are basically three ways to sing the song, so it resets every three days."

"In Shadowton, we didn't have to do that," Jack replied.

Luke shrugged. "Shadowton might be different, but everywhere else, we honor the zero dimension."

"That's basically honoring nothing," Jack argued. "If you teleport there, you can't get out. There's no air to breathe, but no death either. You're trapped between life and death."

"Does Shadowton teach about the zero dimension?" Luke asked.

"Just in Luna City," Jack replied. "That's where I used to live. They teach it because of the Shadow Abyss."

"Oh, yeah," Luke replied. "You guys are right by it. We haven't learned a lot in Regions yet, but we did learn that most dimensions have gateways to the zero dimension. In the third dimension there are these things called dark holes or whatever."

"Black holes," Jack corrected. "And in the first dimension, they have a shadow abyss called the Lightning Abyss. If you fall off the Lightning Tower you end up there."

"What's the Lightning Tower?" Luke asked. He shook his head. "It's so weird that a twelve-year-old knows more than me."

"So you're thirteen now," Jack guessed. Luke nodded. "Well, the Lightning Tower is sort of like the Interdimensional Abyss in the sense that going there causes you to change dimensions. But not only do you have to get there, you also have to climb to the top without falling. I've seen it on vacation, but never gone up."

"You've been there?" Luke's eyes were wide. "I did, once, but Eevee was too young. I was only eight years old."

"Well…" Jack explained, "My mom is a grass type, but she claims she has Diamond blood. Visiting Plantsville became a yearly trip for the Lagouskis."

Luke's jaw dropped. "How did you afford that?"

Professor Aluminum handed everyone their Lazer test. There were some murmurings about how hard the test had been, so I felt pretty content with my 76. Erin got a 69, but her glowering was silent. Luke got the highest grade of the whole class, it seemed, an 80. Then I caught a glimpse of Jack's paper, with a fat 100 in the middle of it.

One hundred.


	6. Chapter 5

"He got a one hundred," I hissed to Erin. "Jack did."

"Are we surprised?" Erin asked me. "Most of us just misspelled 'lazer.' Who knew it was a Z instead of an S?"

"I did."

"Why are you making this a big deal?" Erin sighed. "He's smarter than us. So what?"

"He lives in Silverfall."

Erin's jaw dropped. "That's the richest neighborhood in town."

"I know that," I replied. "And you know how rich people are when they meet a poor person. _Luke is friends with him._ To be turned down by Jack's parents would be crushing, especially after everything that's happened recently."

"You are so stupid," Erin said. "Who would turn down the heir to the Zirconium throne?"

"I…" I was at a loss for words. "Well, there goes my only chance of getting Luke back."

"Again, you're being simple-minded," Erin continued. "To get Luke back, you can't tell him that Jack is _bad._ You have to convince him Team Finity is _good._"

"But how do I do that?" The school day was over, and Luke was with Jack at the arcade. I was with Erin at her apartment. "Team Finity is useless."

"That may be so, but you have to convince Luke it isn't," she replied. "And you might consider letting Jack join. I'm sure he'd love to."

"Jack?" I spluttered. "What kind of position are you thinking?"

"Exactly." I seemed to have reached some kind of checkpoint in Erin's brain, because she nodded. "None of us have positions but you, as the leader."

I sighed dramatically. "What position would you like?"

Erin smiled and gave it some consideration. "I'm terrible with math, so I couldn't be treasurer. But Luke is, so I think you should give him that position. Who would you like to be leader after you?"

"You," I automatically said. It was true. I would never choose anyone but Erin to replace me. She was outgoing, strong, and, well, she had two normal, loving parents and a bit of money to spend. She was also trustworthy and serious when she chose to be. Luke definitely possessed most of those qualities, but unfortunately we were fighting against his only able parent. His money was my money.

"Okay," Erin replied. "Can I also be your right-hand man? I want to be super dedicated."

"Yes," I told her. "What about Jack?"

"Software security," was her response.

"_What?"_

"I saw you get an invitation to play Blood and Boneshed in class yesterday," she explained. "It's impossible to invite someone who doesn't have the app."

"Are you saying he _hacked?_" I gasped. "Actually, I never thought about that."

Erin nodded. "Luke's best friends with a hacker."

"It seems that the best way to protect our nonexistent website from hackers is to get one to help us," I concluded. "We really do need a website."

"Well, it'll test Jack's skills, at least." Erin nodded. "I don't like him any more than you do, but he could be a valuable ally. I'm glad you think the same way."

"I don't."

She laughed. "It's thirty after five. There's an educational program about the history of southeast Normalia that my mom wants us to watch, and it's starting now."

We turned on the TV, but when we saw that the movie _Cold Katana _was playing, we soon forgot all about Normalia. Set in the 32nd dimension(the Dimension of Spikes), the movie was about a bloodthirsty overlord fighting against an army of vicious clowns. Circuses had been banned in the Mica Realm after a vote was cast, proving they hurt Pokemon and terrified children more than anything.

"I am soooo glad clowns don't exist here anymore," Erin cried. "But David Carbon is such a great actor! I love this movie." Afterward, we played Architexture and waited for her parents to get home.

"What are you two doing?" Erin's mother Liza entered the room. "Sitting on the couch, playing video games, and snacking. How unhealthy."

"Actually, it's really hard to snack while gaming," Erin pointed out. "Every time I reach for a chip, Annie kills me."

"Oh, hey, Annie," her mother noticed. "You're welcome to stay for dinner if you want. "

"Thanks, Mrs. Copper," I replied.

"Did you girls like the program?" she asked.

"Uh… yeah," Erin said. "Very descriptive."

"Well, I hope you girls watched something else as well, some of those history shows can be rather dry," Liza started to walk out of the room. "Just nothing with a lot of cursing. _Ben!_ Get those # &%ing veggie burgers in here! What the ?$*% is taking them so long? Anyway," she continued, turning back to her daughter, "I just knew you'd enjoy it, after all, David Carbon was in it."

"Yeah," Erin put on a fake smile. "He's a great actor." After her mother left the room she cursed. "The program was only an hour long! We easily could have watched both!"

"Yeah, but what's one movie over another?" I pointed out. "You just love David Carbon too much."

Erin shook her head. "There's no such thing."

I felt short compared to Erin's family. Liza was a fire type, and Ben was a lazer type. Erin's skin was almost as dark as her mother's, but she had grey-blue eyes and bright ginger hair like her father. Her brother Yanma, in contrast, had brown eyes, lighter skin, and dark auburn hair.

Most lazer types had pale blue or green eyes. My father, however, had dark brown ones. I had never seen a photograph or painting of Russet Technetium, but I knew her eyes were the same way. I just knew.

"So, girls, what did you learn at school today?" Liza asked.

"'Courage is not fearless. It is fear with a reason,'" I said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yanma wondered.

"It's a quote," I explained. "Russet Technetium said it before she died."

Ben nodded. "They're teaching you good lazer history right there."

"But we didn't learn it!" Erin burst out. "How did you know that, Annie?"

"Oh...uh, I guess not." I could feel my face growing red. "I don't know."

Erin looked at me. "You need to stop doing that."

I looked at her straight in the face. "Remember when you and Venonat got into a fight over the TV remote, and he used exactly three tissues to wipe the tears off his face?"

"No," she replied. "What are you doing?"

"Proving I have a good memory."

"That's not necessary, we already know that," Erin groaned.

"I think I'll go now."

"Good idea."

I fled down the empty street, wiping my own tears with exactly three tissues.


	7. Chapter 6

I decided to get to know Jack.

Not as a boyfriend, like Erin had teased me about a few days ago, but I wanted to see what he was like outside of school. As the leader of Team Finity, I _wanted _a hacker on my side.

I dressed like I had money. I didn't have much besides my school uniform, but I did my best and chose a short blue dress from the thrift store. Jack's parents didn't have to know that it was machine-wash.

Luke was visiting Jack today, on this sunny Saturday. I waited until he was leaving before hurrying out the door with a pen in one hand and a small notebook in my other. When Luke saw what I was carrying, he said, "At least put it in a bag." I shrugged and followed his recommendations.

I didn't walk beside Luke until we got to the Lagouskis' house. We appeared as any typical teenage couple.

"What's this?" A tall woman with long brown hair opened the door. Her eyes widened when she saw me. "Are you Luke's girlfriend?"

I was a little bit annoyed, so I said, "No, he's my boyfriend."

Luke glared at me. I shrugged. It was his problem, not mine.

"Well, don't just stay there in the cold!" Jack's mother exclaimed. "Come inside. I'm Lora."

The Lagouski's house appeared to be on the smaller side compared to the other houses in Silverfall. The interior was mostly white, and extremely clean.

"Jack's in his room," Lora told us. We walked up the polished granite stairs.

_The air smelled of smoke and ash. I coughed, trying to see through the dusty air. _

_The smoke eased slightly. I could now see Zirconium Palace engulfed in flames. I jumped to my feet, alert. I was ready for anything. _

_Beside me, Luke groaned, shaking. _Stay with me, _I thought. _Not much longer.

_The flames grew taller than the house. Jack was in the middle of it all, twirling with his arms raised, as if to guide the flames upward, toward the moon and stars. _

"_I am rising," he whispered, his words very much audible. A little girl appeared, then hid behind his leg. _

_I felt something on my foot, then looked down to find that it had caught on fire. I shook it off quickly. _

_I started running. Luke followed, but he wasn't fast enough. As I watched, he tripped and fell down, down, down… _

"Annie! Are you okay?"

I groaned, rolling over. My foot felt like a hot brick. _It's that burn,_ I thought. Then I looked down. My foot was fine. I appeared to be laying on a cold staircase.

Luke and Jack stood above me, looking extremely worried.

"Are you okay?" Luke repeated. "You just sort of froze in place. Then, as I watched, you kicked the wall. Hard. You tried to run, but then you tripped and fell. The weirdest thing is, you were silent the whole time. Not a word came out of your mouth."

"I'm fine," I insisted. "I was just having a little vision."

Luke glared at me through his glasses. "And that's happened before?"

"Well, no," I admitted. "But it felt more like a dream than a vision. I've had plenty of those."

Jack's relief changed to confusion. "What is she talking about?"

"She has very vivid dreams," Luke explained. "One of them saved my life."

Jack's bright green eyes lit up. "Please tell."

Lora made snacks for us("zero dimension cookies," she called them), as Luke told Jack the "stunning" story of how I had bravely saved him and his sister from Professor Zircon.

"Sounds like the ol' Prof. Z has got some problems," Jack said. "Annie! Don't finish that cookie! If you eat the entire thing, you'll be teleported to the zero dimension immediately!"

Lora rolled her eyes. "Jack Banette Lagouski, I clean up your cookie remains all the time. Don't make me do it for your friends, too."

Luke mouthed _eat it_ to me, so I nervously finished my cookie. It did not teleport me to the zero dimension, thankfully. "Your house is nice," I commented to Jack.

"It's a little cluttered," Lora admitted. "Usually Espurrkatrina does a better job of cleaning."

The ten-year-old girl stopped halfway down the hallway to yell at her mother. "I'm not your broom, okay?"

I stared at Espurrkatrina. She looked exactly like the girl from my dream, with her short, wavy black hair and frightened but stubborn expression. She didn't resemble her mother at all; her skin was practically white and made her look like a pure shadow type, unlike her mother, whose light but not pale skin made me think she wasn't pure grass. Her eyes were green, but much darker than Jack's.

She stared at me too. "Who are you?"

I wasn't sure if she was trying to be rude or not. "I'm Annie Zinc, leader of Team Finity."

Espurrkatrina snorted. "Sign me up." She walked away.

"I'm very sorry," Lora apologised. "She's been snappy since we moved. Wearing black all the time… my children are polar opposites." I noticed that she said polar casually, though there were no poles in the Mica Realm.

"I know." Luke sounded tired. "It's the same way in my family. My sister and I could not be more different."

"What?" I was confused. "You and Eevee get along so well."

"Oh…" Luke's face turned red. "That's not exactly what I meant."

Feeling that something was off, I stopped talking.

"Jack, honey, why don't you show Annie your room?" Lora suggested, also sounding tired.

Jack looked up from his pile of zero dimension cookie bits and said, "Sure." He and Luke led me up the stairs I had collapsed on earlier. I gripped the railing warily, but no vision appeared. I was breathing a sigh of relief when I lost my breath at the sight of Jack's room.

It was painted lime green. The room was about as messy as his hair, but to my surprise it seemed quite clean.

"That's Espurrkatrina's doing," Jack explained.

I sighed. "Venonat and I share a room, but I end up doing most of the cleaning. Your house is actually much neater than mine."

"Yeah," Luke agreed. "I swear I had to clear a path to my bed that first day."

Jack was surprised. "You two live together?"

"Er… my house kind of burned down," Luke explained. "That was my dad's doing."

"Your dad's Professor Zircon?" Jack's eyes were wide. "Oh, zero dimension, you're _that_ Luke Zirconium, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm _that_ Luke Zirconium," he responded dryly. "Care to explain your room to Annie?" For the entire time I was looking about the place, taking in every detail from a Touchpad charger to the razz berry sticker on the window.

"No, I'm fine," I replied. "Actually, what is that star doing over there? The constellation Tetra is supposed to be a rectangle. Yours is more of an elongated square." Jack's ceiling was painted sky-blue and covered in stars.

"Uh, I never noticed." Jack showed me a picture of the actual stars. "Looks the same to me."

I thought about it for a minute. "I guess. It still looks wrong, though. Where's the bathroom?"

"Just down the hall," Jack told me. "The door has a picture of DC on it."

"You nerd." I opened his door, and a bucketful of icy water splashed onto my face.

"Jack!" I yelled. "What in the Mica Realm?"

"Oops, sorry." He said, "You'd better go home before my mom sees you."

"No," I replied. "I'm just going to dry off." There was only one door with anything on it, a photo of a man with a red hard hat and dark goatee. A huge gap showed between his teeth. It was the announcer from Luke's hockey game. _I didn't realize DC was from the Diamond Realm._

After drying off, I asked Luke, "Did you know that we saw DC in person?"

Luke looked annoyed. "Absolutely not! Stop acting weird, okay?"

"It's not a dream I had," I insisted. "He was at your game."

"_What?"_

"Yeah, he likes to watch Normalia games." Jack didn't seem surprised. "Rumour has it he was banned from the Firenasa ones."

"Jack!" Lora yelled from downstairs. "Your father's home!"

Espurrkatrina stepped out of her room and slammed the door. "Is there no such thing as peace and quiet anymore?" She stomped down the stairs after glaring at me.

"What's her problem?" I asked.

"She doesn't seem to like reserved, snappy people," Jack explained.

"What? _Reserved, snappy people?_ Is that what I am?" I was outraged.

Luke stifled a laugh. I glared at him.

"Sorry," he apologised. "But you sounded ridiculous."

"Don't remind me," I muttered. "Oh, Jack, would you like to join Team Finity?"

"What does that mean? What do you guys do?" He asked.

"We destroy Team Vi— we restore order," I said as it occurred to me.

Jack looked at me. "Which one?"

"Doesn't matter," I said. "You can be in charge of software security."

Luke looked angry. "We don't have a website."

"We will when Jack makes one," I promised. "You can be treasurer."

Luke jumped up into the air. "Math rules!"

Jack followed his movements, but instead said, "Math sucks!"

"Jack!" Lora yelled again. "Don't let me ever catch you saying that again! I thought you liked math, anyway!"

"I do," Jack said to us. "I want to learn trigonometry."

"I was never good at math," I sighed. "Actually, I was never good at anything."

"That's because you don't study," Luke pointed out.

"Yeah, but when I try, I find myself staring at a piece of tape on the wall. It drives me crazy. Then I rip it off. When I sit down and try to concentrate, I find myself staring at the spot on the wall where the tape used to be. It looks so drab and bare. Then all I want to do is go back in time and leave the tape there." I sighed again. "I guess I'll have to be content with my 79 in Moves."

"You have a 79 in Moves? That's your lowest grade? Are you sure you don't study?" Luke was surprised.

"So what?" Jack asked. "My lowest grade is a 95."

"Yeah, what about that cheat sheet you wrote on your hand?" I asked. "You convinced Professor Alloy it was a tattoo."

"How did you know?" Jack was rather impressed. "I wrote it in green ink and everything!"

I shrugged. "I don't know why my grades are so good. My memory's pretty outstanding, maybe that's why."

Luke snorted. "You are so lucky."

I shook my head. "Not really. It's annoying when you're trying to remember Icetania's exact size, only to have your head filled with a conversation your parents had years ago. 'It's time to go, Lily.' 'John, I'm not finished with my makeup.' 'You okay?' 'Oh yeah.'"

At that moment, Espurrkatrina stomped up the stairs, before screaming at us to shut up, she was about to vacuum her room.

"What ten-year-old vacuums her own room?" I wondered. "My mom didn't trust me until I was twelve."

"She's very trustworthy," Jack assured us. "Just don't give her head, she'll bite it off if you do."

The three of us raged silently before Luke decided he'd had enough. He practically ran out the door.

I started to follow him when I suddenly felt rather dizzy. Colours of black and lime green swirled around me. When they disappeared, I would hear Lora and her husband arguing in the kitchen. Espurrkatrina would vacuum her room on the loudest setting to annoy her brother. Jack wouldn't even feel it. He would be messing up his own room, fixing another ice-bucket for the next unsuspecting person.

But before the colours vanished, a final hue appeared in the most pristine deep blue. I hadn't even realised it was my favourite until now.

Could I repair this family?


	8. Chapter 7

Everyone hated Jack.

People didn't sell buttons with his name on them or anything, but it was still very much obvious. Bayleef created a "fan club" called Lousy Lagouski, claiming that he had lice. Whether that was true or not Luke and him wouldn't tell, because lousy or not, people stayed away from him the same.

Those weren't the worst of my troubles.

I created a new email, teamfinity , to appear more businesslike and sincere. But when I opened my inbox, there was a message from Professor Zircon.

To: teamfinity

From: zzrcon

Dear Miss Annie Fennekin Zinc,

You and three Team Finity members are invited to a special dinner between some of the best masterminds in the Mica Realm on Thursday night.

Best wishes,

Professor Z. Zircon

_What a typo,_ I thought. _Couldn't even spell his own email properly. _

"Luke, look at this," I whispered. It was first period, and Professor Aluminum couldn't care less.

"Go without me," he replied. "My dad's really polite."

"Yeah, but won't it look bad if you don't show up?"

"Actually, it'll look really bad if I show up," Luke pointed out. "It'll look like we don't have enough members to go around. I don't think Eevee should go, either."

"But that just leaves Erin and Jack," I argued. "That's only two."

Luke said stupidly, "Well, maybe you should recruit some more."

I knew it would look bad if I brought one of my parents or Venonat, but Erin's parents' schedules were full on Thursday. Yanma thought the whole thing was stupid.

Unfortunately, that left only one option. I forwarded the email to Jack, even though he was sitting in front of me. _Can you ask Espurrkatrina? _I added.

Erin was a bit wary. "He's the dude who tried to kill your boyfriend, you know."

"Luke says he's really polite," I told her.

She looked at me. "Polite? Okay, but if he burns you alive, I will kill you."

I laughed in her face. "Good luck with that."

I went with Luke to visit Jack again.

Espurrkatrina glared at me, and I told myself that maybe she would act better for Professor Zircon, as she was our best hope for appearing professional. Luke had to assure her mother that it was completely safe.

I wasn't sure I believed him myself.

After a few zero dimension cookies, we set off to find Jack. We entered a room that was completely dark, and I tried to flip the light switch.

"Don't do that!" Jack exclaimed. "I'm working on a puzzle. It's dark for an extra challenge. I'm almost done, then you can turn on the light." We waited until we heard the final click of pieces before flipping the switch.

Luke and I burst out laughing. Jack had completed the puzzle perfectly, but all the pieces were in the wrong spots. Part of a Stelalia king's face was jammed into a Sulfeon tail.

Jack looked a little embarrassed, but he joined our laughter. "I'm not doing that again." We played Blood & Boneshed for a while before Luke and I went home.

I was exhausted, and after taking a cold shower(Luke had waited until the last minute to do laundry), I collapsed into my bed.

"Annie Kitchen Sink, why do you have to be so _loud?_" Venonat pretended to be annoyed. I didn't hear him; I was asleep.

I was standing in a familiar neighbourhood, though I couldn't see any houses, just a cobblestone street and a bit of slush on the ground.

The air was light, as was the sky. It was probably around early afternoon, and the weather was perfect, with just a few fluffy clouds in the sky. My dress told me I had just left a fun, lighthearted party.

I walked down the street and rounded a corner. In front of me was a beautiful, ancient-looking mansion surrounded by pine trees. It was Zirconium Palace.

I almost burst into tears. The building was so _perfect, _not ruined by Professor Zircon but with dawn light filtering through the huge rose window in the front.

But I wasn't alone. A girl about my age stepped out of the front door. She was X, but younger.

X lit a match. It was a simple procedure, but something about it made me focused. She blew it out simply.

Walking away, Y followed the same procedure. But she seemed to be more powerful in doing so, something even my unnatural mind couldn't comprehend. She walked off in silence.

That was another thing I became aware of. The forest was slowly becoming completely silent. The sun was also setting slowly, though I was fairly certain it had been two o'clock not five minutes ago.

After Y vanished into the shadows, laughing with X, another girl came out of the front door, looking terrified. She looked a bit like Eevee, if Eevee were thirteen years old. But this girl was _nervous._She was definitely sweating, like an Icotope in Firenasa.

Suddenly she looked very confident. Like X and Y, she lit a match. But there was something wrong with this one; it was a deep blue instead of red. The girl, appearing to be confused, pulled a little bottle of hand sanitiser out of her pocket. She touched the match to the bottle, wincing as it caught fire. She dropped it into a nearby hedge, which went up into a blaze of normal orange fire. After that, she seemed to be resistant to fire.

But I knew I wasn't. As I turned to leave, a voice laughed behind me.

"I'll clear a path for you, Annie Fennekin Zinc."

I stared at him. "How do you know my middle name?"

He shrugged. "If evil is all you have ever known, what is the point in being nice?"

I sprinted down the path he had cleared for me, wondering why in the Mica Realm the third girl looked so familiar, or why she had been with X and Y.

_Z. _

The realization came as I woke up.


	9. Chapter 8

My dreams weren't too unusual. I was used to the invasion of my sleep; now almost nothing fazed me. I would simply live two lives, one awake, one not. Fears from my dreams almost never crossed into my life.

One thing I never got over, however, was the terror of falling. I had never been afraid of heights, long as I was securely strapped into a roller coaster or blocked by so much as a thin wire railing. But when I was actually falling...Luke might have to save _me_ for a change. I preferred to keep my feet firmly attached to the ground.

"Last night I had a dream that I failed a test," Erin would say.

"Stinks to be you," I would reply. "I had a dream that I passed a pop quiz, and I think we'll take one today."

"Yeah, whatever." Erin would shrug. "I'm prepared." But nothing could prepare her for the shock she received when she got a C and I got all the questions right.

That happened a year ago.

At breakfast today, Venonat was grumbling about _his_ dream, where apparently our grandmother Rose had come back to life and chased him across Normalia City. "I got like no sleep last night!"

"Well that stinks," I replied, playing with my cereal. "_I _had a dream that Zirconium Palace burned down."

Luke groaned. "Didn't you already witness that, _twice?_"

"This time it was different," I explained. "This one girl lit a blue match and threw it into the hedge. The flames engulfing the house were orange, not purple. And Professor Zircon cleared a path for me to leave."

Luke nodded. "See, I told you he was polite."

"Polite to me, maybe," I pointed out. "You? Probably not."

"Yeah, this is why I'm not going to his dinner Thursday," Luke said. "Besides, I've already been to a few of them."

"Annie? You're going to his _dinner?"_ My mother was astounded. "After you ruined his plans?"

"Actually, that wasn't what I did," I explained. "All I did was bring them to light. Professor Zircon never meant to kill Luke or Eevee. He just didn't care about them."

"Isn't that still a bad thing?" my mom pointed out.

"I said, my dad is really polite," Luke repeated. "It's Zorua you have to watch out for."

"Who's Zorua?" I asked.

Luke seemed to realize he had said something wrong. "What?"

"Zorua," I repeated. "Who is she?"

"She's my sister," Luke managed to choke out. "My older sister."

"But Eevee is your sister."

"Zorua is nineteen," Luke explained. "Eevee is ten years younger than her. They look kind of similar, but Zorua has blue eyes, and Eevee's are pink."

"Why _are_ your eyes pink, Eevee?" my dad asked.

"Ocular plenoscafabulosis," she explained. "I was born with it."

"What's that?" Venonat asked.

"It's when your eye colour is so dark it causes blindness," Luke told us. "It's one of the many diseases legendary Pokemon are thought to cause."

"Yeah, but how many people are going to grow up around legendary Pokemon?" Venonat pointed out.

"Excuse me, but I grew up around my dad's Zapdos, Raikou, and Groudon, as well as my mom's Articuno."

"What are some of the other diseases?" I asked him.

"Well, I don't know the names," my mom said instead. "But there's one that causes arms and legs to be unnaturally long, and one that causes babies to be born with small ears. It's not been confirmed, but too much evidence points to that conclusion for it to be a coincidence."

"That's scary," I said. "And these are common?"

"Not necessarily," she explained. "Just be careful when you're fulfilling your dreams."

I laughed. "Sure, Mom."

I had never considered adding legendary Pokemon to my team. They were definitely rare, and it was actually illegal to have one without a permit. Besides, it would be cool enough if my Eevee evolved into an Espeon, one of the few psychic types in the Mica Realm. The others were evolutions of Ralts.

"I got laser surgery as a baby so I wouldn't be blind my whole life," Eevee explained. "So that's why my eyes are pink."

"Ohhhh," my dad responded. "Wow. Hey, I have a joke for you. If a man has brown eyes and his wife has green eyes, what colour will their baby's eyes be"

Eevee thought for a minute. "Can I draw a Punnett Square?"

My dad nodded. Eevee drew a square on a piece of paper, counting on her fingers. "Brown."

John Zinc shook his head. "Nope. All babies are born with blue eyes." No one laughed at his horrible joke.

Eevee's eyes were wide. "Even shadow types?"

"Definitely shadow types," my dad assured her.

"Does your mom have blue eyes?" I asked Luke.

"Well, _duh,"_ he replied. "She's an Icotope. My dad's eyes are sort of a dark yellow-green."

"Yellow-green? That's really weird," I said. "Sorry. But wouldn't at least _one _of his children have eyes like him?"

"Well…." Luke sighed. "I have a confession to make." Eevee seemed interested, which surprised me. "I led you all to believe I have a sister. I don't."

"Yeah," Venonat responded. "You told us already, you have two."

"Actually, I have four." Luke paused, clearly waiting for confusion to build up. Even I was surprised. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because they're not alive," Luke explained. "At least, not anymore."

I thought about this for a second. "What are their names?"

Luke told us, "Dad never wanted us to speak their names, but I'll tell you anyway; he isn't here. Their names are Xuena and Yezuae."

"X and Y," I breathed. "And Z."

"And Zorua, yes," Luke confirmed. "Yezuae had blue hair like my mom. Xuena's eyes were gold."

I waited until dinner was over to ask how they died. "They were attacked by my dad's Zapdos."

I wasn't that surprised, but still horrified. "He attacked his own children?"

"Not intentionally," Luke defended. "He and my mom were just battling, both times. Xuena was actually burned by my dad's Groudon first."

"Is that why she has a huge scar on her face?" I asked.

Luke's jaw dropped. "Where in the Mica Realm did you see her? My dad burned all photographs of her and Yezuae."

"In my dreams," I told him. "We're friends."

Luke didn't appear to be surprised. He just cried.

I felt helpless. I had never seen my friends cry, never. And I knew Luke was a strong person, and he wasn't crying over his losses, just thinking about memories that had been untouched for years. The thought made me float up to my bed and pass out.

When I awoke the next morning, I wasted no time. I emailed Professor Zircon, saying I would come with three Team Finity members tomorrow.

_Good, _he replied later. _I do not wish for you to miss out on this enlightening opportunity. _I showed this to Erin, Luke, and Jack.

But first, we had to sing this zero-dimension-cursed dimensional anthem! I hadn't noticed it much the first few weeks, but now it was starting to drive me crazy.

_And the whole time,_

_There was mostly the zero dimension,_

_Because someone had the nerve to create a dimension._

_It made the world go round_

_All the birds flew safe and sound._

_But the Pokemon knew there was only one way to save the world_

_To kill all human beings, to end the world_

_To end the world, to end the world… _

Jack sang each line like it was his life. He didn't seem as annoying anymore, though that might just have been because we were friends now. The thought shocked me to the bone.

But we dealt with it. Team Finity was official, we had to admit, so Erin grudgingly shook hands with Jack.

At lunch, Luke gave us advice about Professor Zircon's dinners. "First of all, you need to know your way around his house," he said. "The address is 181 Toucannon Way, in Zarrgonn, Lightningland. When you walk through the front door, there is a staircase on the right, and one on the left. Walk down the one on the right; left leads upstairs."

"So his dining room is downstairs?" I asked, confused.

"You'll see," Luke told us. "Second of all, I've got an older sister."

Erin and Jack didn't seem fazed. "Okay, so?"

"She's my dad's favourite," he explained. "Her name is Zorua, like the Pokemon. But call her "Zora," because if you call her zor-u-a she won't like that."

"Anyone else we should know about?" Jack asked.

"Well, Mac and Mason probably won't be there, judging by their faces," Luke said. I glanced over to where the two boys were standing. Indeed, they looked rather put out.

"My uncle Zoroark and his wife Kecleon will probably be there," he added. "They're okay, though."

"Well, thanks for preparing us," said Erin. "If your dad starts to burn the house down, we'll call you."

"He won't do that," Luke promised. "But if he does, grab his calender teleporting pass and leave immediately. He keeps the pass on a hook attached to his refrigerator."

"Are you sure that he won't?" I asked, still unconvinced.

Luke snorted. "He won't burn his own house down."

We left it at that and returned to our classes as the bell rang.


	10. Chapter 9

We shivered in the night air, colder than usual. We hoped Lightningland would be warmer, as the only desert region. Since Jack had a calendar teleporting pass, we could just go with him without walking to the teleporting rings first.

Zarrgonn was quieter than Normalia City. After teleporting into a small grove of saguaro cacti, to which Erin cursed loudly, we walked straight into downtown.

"Excuse me, can you tell us how to get to 181 Toucannon Way?" I asked, and making up an innocent lie, "We're on a field trip."

The lightning-type woman nodded. "Okay, but it's just a regular apartment." She pointed in the direction we had come from. "Go down this street, then turn onto Whiscash Walk. Toucannon Way is the next intersection." We thanked her and left.

"Are you sure we have the right address?" Erin asked me. "It looks exactly the same as all the other apartments in the neighbourhood. The apartment appeared to be made with dark oak wood and blackened bricks, which surprised me, as Professor Zircon could probably afford a better house. We knocked on the door.

"Exxxxcellent," Professor Zircon said as he opened the creaky door. "You're just in time. Welcome to Zircon Manor, and don't go through the door on the left; it leads upstairs to a part of the house undergoing some major renovations. I had to replace an entire sink! But anyway," he added, "To the right. Everyone else is already downstairs."

"I wonder who the 'everyone' is," I whispered to Erin. She hissed at me to be quiet.

The "ol' Prof Z." motioned for the four of us to sit down at the side of a long table. Across from us sat a man with spiky red hair and a shorter man with black hair. "This is Lysandre Actinium, leader of Team Flare, and Giovanni Thorium, leader of Team Rocket."

Jack suppressed a giggle.

"I'm certain that you've also heard of Candela Americium, Blanche Cerium, and Spark Electabuzz," Professor Zircon continued, "As well as Cassandra Wishiwashi from Team Failure."

That included everyone at the table except for Zorua, a lightning-type couple, and an extremely conspicuously-uniformed man wearing mirror glasses and a Team Unown pin identifying him as 48929874.

"I'm Annie Zinc," I told everyone nervously. "I'm the leader of Team Finity. These are members Erin Copper as well as Jack and Espurrkatrina Lagouski, whom I brought upon your request."

Professor Zircon nodded. "This is my daughter Zorua, my brother Zoroark, and his wife Kecleon."

The couple smiled warmly, but Zorua was gazing into the distance, seemingly unaware of everything going on.

Dinner was served. Four servants in purple uniforms carried food on what appeared to be golden trays. The dishes also appeared to be gold.

As for the food, Professor Zircon's chefs had prepared a life-sized tofu Lickitung and filled it with razz berries. There was also a salad and a huge bowl of pasta.

"Yum," said Jack. "The town will eat well tonight." He was referring to Architexture.

Professor Zircon went on for a few minutes about what an honour it was to sit at the same table as the leader of Team Finity. Eventually my face went red.

"Sir," I said, "Are you impressed because of my accomplishments?"

He smiled. "Are you?"

"I don't think I have any," I admitted. Erin groaned. She kicked me under the table.

"What is it?" I looked up at her. She looked a little sweaty.

I turned around in my chair. Jack and Espurrkatrina looked at me like I had done something wrong. But I hadn't. We continued the conversation, but switched direction and talked about the upcoming Firenasa election.

Suddenly Erin collapsed beside me. Espurrkatrina was on her in a flash before Professor Zircon dragged her off. "Gerroff me," she insisted.

Jack and I were frozen, but Luke's father seemed to be strangely calm. "Kecleon, take her away."

"No," Espurrkatrina told him. "She's clearly sick. What she needs is—"

Professor Zircon covered her mouth with a large hand. "Care better than you can provide. Kecleon, Zoroark, and Zorua will take care of her. But in the meantime, I think it's best for you to leave immediately." He practically scooped us up in his giant hands and threw us out.

Espurrkatrina was simmering with fury. "How dare he?" she asked with clenched teeth. "I would have helped her. I'm not some useless kid."

"How did it go?" Luke asked when I got home. "Did my dad burn the place down?"

"Only you could joke about that," I groaned. "No, but Erin's sick and your father claims that the best thing to do is to leave her there, in the care of his brother and daughter."

"Well, I think it's fine," Luke replied. "Erin is in good hands."

"Easy for you to say," I muttered. "You weren't there."

"Hey, I grew up around these people," Luke reminded me. "They're fine."

"But what if Erin doesn't get better?" I fretted. "She obviously didn't have a cold."

Luke gazed at my green eyes through his blue ones. "She will be fine."

"Your dad tried to burn you alive," I reminded him. "I don't trust him."

"I guess," he replied. "Dad won't kill her."

I hadn't thought of that. "I'll call her."

"You have reached the line of Professor Zygarde Zircon of Zarrgonn, president of Lightningland and leader of Team Vicious," said an automated voice. "Please leave a message."

I was simmering with fury. "This is Annie Zinc of Normalia City, leader of Team Finity. My right-hand man is Erin Copper, and she is still at your house. I apologize for this inconvenience, but we feel that she would be in better care within her own team. And Professor, I'm not your student. Goodbye." When I turned around on my bed, Luke had left.

It was 10:36. A sensible person might have tried to get some sleep, but I wasn't feeling like doing that. Venonat was out below me, so I had to sneak out quietly.

Between the scurryings of Rattata and Zigzaggoon, I wasn't afraid. I had grown up around this.

But at the corner of the street was a neon sign.

_The Sleazy Hotel: See live Pokemon! Free after your first night! Public toilets outside!_

I caught sight of a _Number One Toilet-Best Portable Water Closet In The Dimension!_ and gagged.

At the other end of my neighbourhood, nothing had changed. The flaking water tower was clearly supplying the Sleazy Hotel. My dad had unofficially used everyone's tiny lawns to grow wheatgrass. I went back to my own apartment.

A sensible person might have gone to bed, but I didn't feel sensible. Instead, I took a bath.

The showers in my apartment weren't made for this, but the way I saw it was that the doors were waterproof and sealable, and there was a convenient dish to cover the drain with. Sure, it was supposed to hold soap, but was Venonat really going to notice if his shampoo sat on the counter for thirty minutes?

I could hear Luke's voice in my head. _At my old house, we had enough hot water to fill up a giant bathtub to the rim and take a shower for an hour. At my old house, we could do laundry and take a shower at the same time. At my old house…_

I didn't want to listen to him now. I didn't even care that I was shivering from the lukewarm temperatures. I only turned off the water when I was up to my neck in the liquid. Then I dived below the surface.

That was when Venonat entered in preparation for a midnight leak. He yelped when he saw me in a drowned position, curled up at the bottom of our flooded shower, with my hair floating all around me in an eerie, movie-like way. "The poisoned is getting better!"

I opened my eyes. Venonat must have interpreted the motion as a death sentence, for he ran out of the room. After throwing on my clothes and following him, I asked, "What did you say back there?"

"I said, 'Annie, what in the Mica Realm are you doing?'" Venonat quoted. "Then you opened your eyes so I knew I'd better move out of the way in case you decided to beat me up."

"Actually, it's fine," I replied. We were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"What's going on in here?" my dad asked, sliding his glasses on. "Your mother and I are trying to sleep."

"Sorry," I muttered. "We're going to bed now."

"Yes, you need your sleep." My dad walked out and closed the door. "Don't let this happen again."

"Now we're in trouble." Venonat looked genuinely disturbed. "I'm going to bed."

It didn't matter to me, but I must have been exhausted, for I fell asleep immediately. I was getting good at doing that.


End file.
